Joseph Abboud

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JOSEPH ABBOUD - PAGE 2

BY KATHLEEN BOYES, a free-lance writer who specializes in fashion | June 7, 1992

If old rules still apply, now that Memorial Day has come and gone, the coast is clear to start wearing white. Thank goodness. No other color quite captures the essence of warm-weather dressing. Just think of a well-washed T or the easiness of slip-on Keds. Is there anything more basic or, for that matter, more appealing? "I love soft white," designer Joseph Abboud says. "In fact, I consider ivory the single most beautiful color a person can wear. It reflects a sense of freshness and spirit."

It is the quirk of fashion that last month in New York designers gathered to show-not their upcoming fall lines; those were shown a few months ago-their offerings for spring 1995. There's no making sense of the chronology. Just accept it. The Men's Dept. couldn't be there to gaze and gasp, but our special correspondent, Kathleen Boyes, kept our seat warm at all the venues and reported back on the upcoming trends. "It was a real weird season," said Boyes, a veteran of these things.

Most men will never look like Pierce Brosnan no matter how flattering the light. But a tuxedo sure helps. Ask Jason Erkes. When he slips into his Joseph Abboud tuxedo jacket, he thinks Bond. James Bond. "Every guy feels like James Bond when they put on their tuxedo," said the 33-year-old head of the Chicago Sport and Social Club. "Just putting mine on, I heard the music for 'Live and Let Die' in the back of my head." A tuxedo, said Tom Jackson, general manager of the Paul Stuart store on North Michigan Avenue, "makes every man handsome."

Two designers who apprenticed with Ralph Lauren have become hot items with clothes carrying their very own names. One is Carmelo Pomodoro, who makes understated, sophisticated knits for women; the other is Joseph Abboud, whose suits, coats and furnishings for men have a bit of `30s dash about them. Both designers are "overnight successes" who`ve been laboring behind the scenes for more than a few years, and both paid visits to Chicago recently. -- Pomodoro, a handsome lad who--for the last nine years or so--has been involved in designing clothes for very ladylike-type collections (Charlotte Ford, Bill Haire for the Friedricks Sport label, career-oriented Betty Hanson)

In advance of this weekend's City Series, Aaron Rowand of the White Sox and Aramis Ramirez of the Cubs took time Thursday evening to dress for success. Decked out in custom-fitting suits created by world-renowned designer Joseph Abboud, Rowand and Ramirez modeled their stately attire in the men's department at the Nordstrom store on Michigan Avenue. The players later enjoyed catered refreshments, signed autographs and mingled with fans, talking about everything from this weekend's series at Wrigley Field to clothing options.

If the grunge movement brought the fashion world kicking and screaming into the '90s, that same dressed-down, rugged aesthetic is ushering the decade out. Utilitarianism, a byproduct of economic pragmatism paired with a cool, athletic aesthetic, has been as defining to the late '90s as heady, big-shouldered confidence was to the '80s. And nowhere was this mix more evident than at the fall '99 men's ready-to-wear collections in New York. A blaze of blues, silvers, greens, yellows and reds infused collections from the hip-hop athleticism of Avirex, who showed for the first time, to the whimsical color combinations of Gene Meyer.

Spring 1990 is not a season of what's new and hot but rather a season of mixing colors and patterns and breaking a few old rules. A veritable vegetable garden of colors is being offered in both tailored clothing and weekend wear. Mustard, tomato, celery, olive and woodsy greens-with a full palette of brown spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cream-play off one another dramatically or blend for impact. Plaids and paisleys are muted, stripes are bold and retro prints are bountiful. Adding dash to this "salad dressing" is the dressing-down of the two-piece suit for nonbusiness occasions.

American designers kicked off their fall showings here this week in venues as varied as the inner sanctums of the august New York Public Library, cramped and steamy showrooms, a not-so-swank theater district supper club and a snobbish Upper East Side private club that asked retailers, press and photographers not to talk too loud and defintely not to wear jeans or sweat pants. But the diversity of those settings was little compared to the variety the New York designers served up on Monday's opening day alone, including yodeling Heidis in pigtails, high-heeled clogs and embroidered aprons over suede short shorts; dandies in brocade frock coats; and Victorian ladies in pretend leopard coats.

You are perusing the menu at ultrahip Blackbird on West Randolph Street, cruising past the culinary buzzwords. Diver scallops. Black truffles. Caramelized onions. Toward the bottom, just before the caveats to cell-phone users and cigar smokers, there is this: "Clothing provided by: Joseph Abboud." Over on West Superior Street, at the edge of gallery-rich River North, the staff at the serenely elegant Zealous eatery are so stylishly dressed that it's not unusual for customers to ask about their dark gray jackets, deep taupe shirts and black ties.

Fall is definitely underway. September issues of fashion magazines are weighing in at five pounds or so, calendars are filling up with September parties and stores are gearing up for big business. Mikhail Baryshnikov will be in Chicago soon-not to dance, of course, but to promote his fragrance, Misha, and meet his fans at the Michigan Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue. Original date was Sept. 14 but had to be postponed because of a conflict. - A new Joseph Abboud men's shop-in fact, the largest Abboud department in the U.S. both in space and selection of clothing and furnishings-opened last week on the second floor of the Marshall Field & Co. State Street store.